Speeches

Nov172009

Mr. Speaker, Major Nidal Malik Hasan is a terrorist. If anyone needs confirmation, it says on his own business cards, Soldier of Allah, and those business cards were found in his apartment. Within an hour of his terrorist attack on Fort Hood, the FBI quickly told us he is not a terrorist. The authorities told us not to jump to conclusions while they jump to conclusions.

The news media has called Hasan everything but a terrorist. Hasan was called a "lone gunman" or a "troubled individual" who somehow suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder. The main problem with that is he hadn't been deployed overseas, so how could he have post-traumatic stress disorder? Maybe it should be called pre-post-traumatic stress disorder.

They said Hasan's terrorist rampage was an "isolated incident," a "random act of violence." Hasan was "under stress," "harassed" and was somehow forced to "snap." And they even blame it on guns. But don't call him a terrorist.

The day after Hasan's terrorist attack, reports leaked out that he had yelled the standard terrorist "Allahu Akbar," Arabic for "God is great," while gunning down innocent people.

According to The Dallas Morning News, authorities are investigating whether Hasan wired money to Pakistan terrorist groups in recent months. His apartment cost $350 a month and didn't have much furniture in it. He drove an old car, but he made over $100,000 a year. Now people are asking, Where did all that money go?

According to a colleague at Walter Reed Hospital, Hasan gave an hour-long lecture there on what he called the "Koranic View of Military Service, Jihad, and War." Instead of the medical lecture he was supposed to talk about, Hasan talked about punishment visited upon infidels--consignment to hell, decapitation, and having hot oil poured down your throat. According to his colleague at the hospital, this ``freaked a lot of doctors out.'' Well, no kidding. But apparently not enough for anyone to break their politically correct silence and report him. Why have the politically correct police made those who report crime so timid?

Hasan's colleagues said that he was the kind of guy who the staff actually stood around in the hallway saying, Do you think this guy is a terrorist or is he just odd? Nothing was done. And why wasn't he formally reported by colleagues? There are no answers.

Hasan exchanged emails with an al Qaeda recruiter in Yemen 20 times. According to the Wall Street Journal, the Pentagon said they were never told by intelligence agencies about the emails, which raises even more questions.

The FBI, Army Intelligence, the CIA, apparently they're still not talking to each other. So we need congressional investigations on this entire situation. I've asked that the Terrorism Subcommittee, which I serve on in Congress, investigate this situation.

There were warning signs that were ignored because he was a Muslim. Is this a reflection on all Muslims in the Army? Absolutely not. We have those in the Muslim faith loyally serving in Iraq and Afghanistan. Many speak Farsi and help our troops in combat. But it is a reflection on one person who radicalized.

There were warning signs, and interventions should have occurred much earlier. It's a reflection on the Army's ability to be decisive and take care of business, take care of a threat when they see it. They missed the obvious. The question is: Is this continuing to happen in the military? Are they going to continue to ignore the obvious? Hasan had murdered 14 people, including a pregnant soldier and her unborn child. She was sent back home from Iraq out of the war zone to have her baby.